Newton man is sentenced to 3 years in prison for stealing more than $100K from business

Google MapsA map view of Toppan Printing Co. in Franklin Township in Somerset, where a controller was convicted of stealing from the firm.

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP (Somerset) — A Newton man today was sentenced to three years in prison for taking more than $100,000 from a Somerset County printing business where he worked as the controller.

David Hathaway, 51, apologized for his actions and defense lawyer asked Judge Paul Armstrong to give him a suspended sentence for the theft from Toppan Printing Co., a firm located in Franklin Township.

Attorney Drew Hurley insisted his client didn’t take the money for a lavish lifestyle, but to help support his family. They were struggling under debts that mounted when Hathaway was unemployed.

“He did so to pay bills, not to go to Atlantic City, not to buy drugs,” Hurley said, adding that his client is bankrupt. “It was aberrant behavior.”

Hathaway pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in July, and as part of the deal struck between Hurley and Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Van Hise, the state agreed to recommend that Hathaway be sentenced as a third-degree offender. The range for a third-degree crime is three to five years in state prison. He could have faced up to 10 years, had he been convicted of the second-degree charge.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael McLaughlin appeared on behalf of the state for sentencing. Hathaway’s wife, Nikki, told the judge their family has been devastated. “We’re trying to keep two children in college and a roof over our heads,” she said, asking Armstrong to impose any other penalty besides prison.

Hathaway set up a fake company and wrote 10 Toppan checks totaling $118,178.38. The thefts surfaced in March 2009 after Merrill Lynch, one of Toppan's customers, noticed an accounting problem, the prosecution has said.